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DEMOCRATIC FORM OF GOVERNMEiNT. 



THE GREAT QUESTION NOW TO BE SOLVED: 

Is a Democratic Government a Possible Thing, 
Or must we have a Despotism P 



EXTRACT FROM A LETTER. 



THE TRIAL 



DEMOCRATIC FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 



THE GREAT QUESTION NOW TO BE SOLVED: 

Is a DeixLOcratic Grovernment a Possible Thing, 
Or must we liave a Despotism P 



PHILADELPHIA: 
C. SHERMAN AND SON. 

18 63. 



^ 









EXTRACT FROM A LETTER. 



Bethlehem, January 29, 1863. 

.... I CAN say most truly, that in the gloomy fore- 
bodings for the immediate future of this country I have 
great sympathy with you. During many years I have 
had serious fears, because I have had a keen sense of the 
degraded character of too many of the political leaders, 
and I have with sorrow beheld the increasing perversion 
of their ends and aims. 

I must, however, assure you, with all the sincerity of 
my heart, that I do not take the same view that you do 
of the causes or of the true remedies for these evils. 
This arises, perhaps, from my never having been united 
to any party ; neither have I the personal political asso- 
ciations which have grown up around you, and have in- 
volved all the generous and true devotion of your heart. 
These are some of the reasons why you and I may con- 
tinue to hold very different opinions : I regard all parties, 
composed of the same race and blood, as necessarily 
much alike. I think among us, all are far less good than 
they ought to be, and they are actuated almost entirely 
by partisan rather than by patriotic motives. Now you 
know that my sympathies have always been strongly on 
the side of old and true Democratic principles ; but of 
late years I could not but condemn very many Democratic 



4 

practices. Treason, on the idea that the Government of 
the United States was impotent and nnable to protect 
itself, was gravely promulgated by a Democratic Presi- 
dent in a message to Congress, December 3d, 1860. 
Fealty to party undoubtedly led to this recreancy. 

I have been an opponent of the Republican movement 
in the main, from the very beginning, and I can now only 
consider the Republican party merely as the lawful occu- 
pant of the governing power of my country for the time 
being, which is a transient and necessary evil. The men 
chosen by the people to make the laws and to execute 
them, deserve my lawful support. This is true Demo- 
cracy, the loill of tlie people. Anarchy, disintegration, 
rebellion are sure to follow, if ever this solid Democratic 
stand-point should be abandoned by the people. 

I think everything grows from a seed. I do not be- 
lieve the Republican party was a " spontaneous genera- 
tion," but rather that it was generated out of what went 
before : and I am far more inclined to think it has been 
the inevitable result of previous factions and of extreme 
movements, rather than a purely spontaneous growth, 
and therefore not entirely responsible for its own exist- 
ence or consequent misdeeds. 

My conviction is very strong, that our present misera- 
ble condition is mainly the inevitable result of forces, 
moral and physical, set in motion far too recklessly, and a 
long time ago. Calhoun Democracy, Nullification, State 
Sovereignty, Southern Rights, and State Rights, have 
demoralized the Democratic party, and seriously threaten 
our republican form of government. Bad, however, as 



the posture of affairs actually is, I am not so much dis- 
tressed by it as I am alarmed by the great question 
immediately to be solved: Is A Democratic Govern- 
ment A POSSIBLE THING, OR MUST WE HAVE A DESPOTISM '? 

If that must be, I hope neither I nor child of mine shall 
live to see it. 

Now, my friend, this question oppresses me, because I 
consider that the present occurrences are the product of 
a train of events long ago initiated, designed to divide 
and sever the Union. This country has been for a long 
series of years, previous to March 4, 1861, entirely in 
the hands of a powerful party, Southern in all its pro- 
clivities, who have swayed and developed its destinies. 
For two years they have been in open rebellion and war, 
bent on destroying the Union. Can we conquer them I 
In the Northern wing of that party, is there enough 
of virtue, intelligence, and love of the old Union remain- 
ing to save it? That there is, I trust and hope. This 
is my prayer, now and forever. I cannot grant the 
Democratic peace party absolution on the ground of their 
cry, that " this all comes of New England pressure ;'* for 
at this moment, and during all previous times, a very 
large numerical proportion of New England acted with, 
and formed an integral part of the old dominant party ; 
so that if we confess that the malign influence of the 
remaining portion of New England, which, all told, at 
this day numbers only 3,111,000, we ought to feeLy?&^^7a,<^ 
humiliated at the base recreancy of the rest of the coun- ^ >nO)ciu. 
try, in which Democratic Pennsylvania alone counts 
2,311,000, and New York is not less than 3,887,000. 



I find it equally impossible to admit the new-fashioned 
cry, that New England holds undue Senatorial power ; 



for in six of the Southern States^he entire iDhite popu- 
lation (who alone are the intelligent voting and repre- 
sented portion, and thus the only portion here to be 
computed), I can only find the aggregate is 1,500,905, 
in the figures of the last census. These facts afford a 
glimpse at the fundamental reasons why I cannot accept 
the theoretical views you adopt for the causes of the 
present deplorable results. I think, too, you make a 
great mistake in placing the responsibility all where you 
do, — upon the Northern side. I am convinced that Mr. 
Rhett in the South Carolina Convention admitted only 
the truth when he uttered these words: ^^ Neither the 
election of Mr. Lincoln nor the non-execution of the fugitive 
slave laiv, had anything to do with bringing about the 
separation. It is a thing which has been growing and 
Ijreparing these thirty years." And A. H. Stephens, on 
the 21st of March, 1861, said at Savannah: " — African 
slavery, as it exists among us — the proper status of the 
negro in our form of civilization. This was the imme- 
diate cause of the late rupture and present revolationr 
Now add to all this the fact that either Cobb or H. V. 
Johnson, when canvassing for the Vice-Presidency, said 
in the State House Yard at Philadelphia : " We thinh 
capital ought to own labor.'^ This was said during the 
very canvass, one of the very hinges of which was the 
expansion of '■'■ ownea labor'' into the national domain. 
Now, the next extract I must cite, comes from a letter 
deliberately published by a very high authority, the 



Charleston Mercury of 13tli February, 1861, over the 
signature of L. W. Spratt. He says, " The people of the 
Cotton States want labor ; tliey knoio that whites and staves 
cannot icorh together. "" I have merely cited these authentic 
words, because they happened to be at hand, and they 
all come from men whose veracity in uttering them I do 
not question ; though I cannot admire their policy. 
These references are merely characteristic of a wide 
sectional sentiment, which did not often utter its inten- 
tions so plainly, although their actions, in my honest 
judgment, had long proclaimed their sentiments. 

I will now freely confess to you, that I think a large 
share of our present misfortunes arises from very foolish 
and very impolitic conduct; and I should be a very bad 
scholar in the ways of mankind, if I allowed myself to 
believe that all the bad policy could be practised by only 
one side. 

For a long time, with a very sad heart, I have listened 
to the recriminations of one side, which plainly suggest 
the following questions : 

Has not the South utterly refused to hear any argu- 
ment, even in a constitutional shape, about their institu- 
tions % 

Do they not deny freedom of speech upon the subject? 

Do they not forget the right to alter and amend tlie 
Constitution itself, and that a method is provided to do 
so, by their own agreement'? 

Do thev not fors^et that neither Constitution nor laws 
declare it a crime, or even a wrong, to endeavor, by law- 
ful means, to change or reverse a decision or even a dictum 



8 

of any court ? Nay, it is even not wrong nor criminal to 
endeavor to change the law, or to amend the Constitu- 
tion upon which dicta or decisions are founded ! 

Is a man who maintains that so long as a decision 
stands it ought to be obeyed, a criminal if he say that 
he yet verily believes it is wrong and ought to be recon- 
sidered, reargued, and reversed ] 

Is there any Article, or any law, which denies liberty 
of conscience in forming opinions, or forbids freedom of 
speech in uttering them 1 

Shall the majority govern, or shall the ballot-box be 
closed forever 1 

By what power and upon what principles besides the 
fundamental law and the ballot-box, do men hope for 
this Government to exist and continue 1 

Now, my old friend, paiii/ spirit could put in some side 
thrusts to these serious questions ; still they are fair and 
pertinent questions, and the only straight and direct 
replies to them grow out of the power to assert, that they 
might relate to rights — yes rights — and nothing less, 
which policy, perhaps, would not loudly assert. I do not 
expect that in the atmosphere in which you have passed 
your recent years, and even guided by all your nobleness 
of soul, that even you will look at these absorbing ques- 
tions as I do. But I should feel heartily glad, if by 
anything I can do, or say, I might separate you from the 
organized party with which I am afraid you are acting. 
I say, afraid, because it appears to me that it is moving 
in a direction you do not at all appreciate, and in which 
I am entirely unable to perceive any object whatever, 



beyond the merest factious opposition. While I think 
there exist good grounds for a legitimate, noble, decided 
and patriotic opposition, I am pained to think that not 
one of the stronger grounds is taken in a patriotic way; 
and I think, during a time of public calamity and most 
pressing danger, that it would be far more wise and 
patriotic to suggest improvements, and to devise better 
projects, than to indulge in the mere denunciation of bad 
ones ; that it would be wiser to exert the utmost efforts to 
unite and join the people in one whole, rather than to 
use all endeavors to create wider and more irreconcila- 
ble breaches among ourselves, or than to develop still 
fiercer hatred, and to break down and utterly destroy all 
bond of union, not only between sections or States, but 
in the very heart of communities, and in the midst of 
towns and villages ! Listen to the insane ravings of Mr. 
Cox, in New York, who urged the exclusion of New 
England. What for '? To throw her, with her skill, in- 
dustry, and consumption of breadstuffs, into the arms of 
Canada, which is quite able to feed and furnish her with 
coal and iron. When this is done, how is New York 
herself to grasp the gUttering prize, that great trade of 
the West, which is the tempting bait this patriotic soit 
of Ohio offers to her greed 1 She hopes to seize it in its 
track across the lakes, or through Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
Blind guide, he forgets that Canada and her new ally 
will then hold the Welland Canal, and that Pennsyl- 
vania will chop off the track at Erie ; and after that, there 
will be plenty more competitors, beginning at Baltimore 
and stretching out their railroad arms all the way to the 



10 

Gulf, each one seeking to hold all the trade for himself! 
Is not this worse than a modern Babylon prospect \ 

It is grievously mortifying to believe that " the Demo- 
cratic party," as exhibited in recent speeches and in its 
journals, should be so credulous and ill-informed. Fer- 
nando Wood and sundry others prate to it, " Only let us 
get into power, and the South will come back, and we 
shall live all together like doves." Can you believe this 1 
Wood said it in substance six or eight weeks ago. Can 
I believe it] Who can believe it] It was the census of 
1860 which alarmed the South; and most adroitly did 
its partisan leaders deliberately attempt to gain an 
advantage by their skill and cunning, over their de- 
voted Democratic friends all over the country. Its 
tyrannical nature is developed in its effort, by a cotton 
famine, to coerce Europe into intervention. There is not 
much brotherhood shown for its former friends by this 
effort, made to subject them to a foreign lash. It is 
impossible for me to believe that on the 6th of November, 
1860, there could be a particle of love or respect for 
their Northern friends and coadjutors in the heart of the 
Southern leaders. Mind, I do not say there was none 
in all the Southern people. It is deeply to be deplored 
that the people should be so deceived and maddened, 
and finally made the destroyers of the free institutions 
under which we live. The art of demagogues has forced 
an unwilling war upon the whole country. It has greatly 
injured the entire North and West, while it has almost 
destroyed the South. War is simply despotism, tyranny, 
brute force of the worst kind, and both sides must suffer 



11 

its full penalties while it lasts. For the time, it must 
virtually overthrow all other rule. Let us theorize as we 
like, it must be so ; and believe me, whether Republican 
or Democrat stand at the helm, we shall find great vio- 
lence done for the time to our feelings and even to our 
principles. I willingly say with you, — then let there be 
as little evil as possible ; and I unite in urging, that if it 
be possible, no man's life or liberty should be risked or 
imperilled without a trial, and when found guilty let the 
wicked be severely punished. I regret and deplore much 
which appears to have been done. Yet, 1 do not believe 
that every one who has been arrested was either the most 
innocent man or purest patriot in the land. It is, how- 
ever, impossible for every man to restrain his natural 
suspicions against certain leaders, who just before the 
rupture were in closest affiliation with those individuals 
who " for thirty years were seeking to destroy the Govern- 
ment." Is it not monstrous, that these same Northern 
partisans, not a bit abashed at what grew up under their 
management, in this hour of danger, still demand that 
we shall look up to them as our prophets and our trusty 
leaders'? This is surely not good policy. I cannot 
admire or approve the leaders, nor yield my confi- 
dence to those who follow them blindly. 

I must wind up my homily, by repeating what I say 
almost every day, — that I have as many friends who are 
Democrats as of any other party, and among the Demo- 
crats are some of the noblest and purest men on earth, 
and among the very best of these I like to reckon you. 
Still, my old friend, with all the sincerity your letter 



12 

courts, I would express to you my anxiety that you look 
with the utmost care and forethought, lest you are misled, 
and may be carried much too far by party zeal ; and I 
urge upon you with all my affection, not to allow your 
fervent feelings to commit you to ultra proceedings, 
which one day we must all deeply, yes, deeply deplore. 
Things around us, for a long time, have looked very 
serious, and therefore, I adjure you to reflect calmly 
upon this hasty letter, inspired by a friendship reciprocal 
with your own, which so solemnly urges you to review 
the great causes which may have conduced to present 
results. Perhaps such reflections and second thoughts 
may do us all good; and I hope at least you may be led 
to fear, as I do, that Democratic institutions must be a 
contemptible failure (/' such results belong to them, 
rather than to the mismanagement of a long dominant 
party ; for it is true, that the long-dominant party reacts 
always most powerfully upon the entire nature and 
tendency of its confronting opposition; and so it really 
is in no small degree responsible for its nature and shape, 
which is the reciprocal of its own, if indeed it be not its 
own legitimate oftspring. 

Notwithstanding, my dear friend, I am for the Union ; 
above all and over all, I am for the perpetuity of our re- 
publican form of government ; I am " for all things that 
are for the Union, against all things that are against it." 
Your patience I hope I have not overtasked, and above 
« all, that I may not have pained you. It is my desire to 
caution you, as aflection and undying friendship ought 
to caution the friend of my lifetime. P. 



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